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The release of transcripts from U.S. President Trump's telephone call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull show, according to NYT Columnist Roger Cohen, "how desperate Australia is to close the shameful chapter in its history that has seen about 2,000 asylum-seekers and refugees — some now dead, most suffering from depressive disorders — dumped on two remote Pacific islands for four years."

Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine gave an emotioinal address to a mostly empty European Parliament. President Heine urged EU leaders to do more to ensure Paris Agreement is adhered to; several MEPs said it was 'shameful' more colleagues did not turn up to here the speeech

Based in Vanuatu, long-time photojournalist, author and television producer Ben Bohane's opinion is that the Pacific Islands, once considered by the United States to be an 'American Lake,' are increasingly turning to China. The relationship of benign neglect by the U.S. where there is ' little evidence that the U.S. is putting any significant resources into the Pacific islands' is being replaced by 'China [which] has unleashed multibillion-dollar investments throughout the islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, offering critical infrastructure projects, planeloads of tourists and access to financial inclusion, the U.S. has stayed silent.'

A scientific expedition in PNG's Morobe province surveyed trees from 'coast to clouds' showed that the largest trees are unexpectedly found at higher altitudes. "The study may force a re-think of what we know about the ideal environments for growing very large trees," said Dr Dwyer, a UQ School of Biological Sciences' lecturer and CSIRO researcher.

A World Bank policy paper, Pacific Possible, says that people from Pacific Islands threatened by climate change should be allowed to migrate 'to boost struggling island economies and prevent a later mass forced migration.'

"A new Melanesian cultural movement is pushing back against Indonesian oppression. Ronny Kareni, a West Papuan musician and part of the ‘Rize of the Morning Star’ arts collective, explains why music is his weapon of choice in the fight for freedom."

Dr. Transform Aqorau, former CEO of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement Office in Majuro, Marshall Islands, provides some observations about the preparations for the UN Oceans Conference to be co-hosted by Fiji and Sweden in New York this June.

Multiple probes by various U.S. agencies are underway into the construction and operations of Saipan's Best Sunshine casino. A recent FBI raid resulted in numerous arrests for hiring undocumented workers and residents have noted that construction has dramatically slowed since that time.

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.